The media's giftgate  —  I know, my head hurts, too, reading the ‘coverage.’ (I'm waiting for some reporter to combine the gift ‘story’ with a detailed description of what Michelle Obama was wearing when she gave the Queen of England the gift.)  —  Aside from the fact that key facts …

Obama bows down to Saudi King (updated)  —  I am quite certain that this is not the protocol, and is most unbecoming a President of the United States.  —  Update: See Miss Manners on the protocol.  Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signified the monarch's power over his subjects.

Tedisco Now Leading By 12  —  As of 4:30 p.m. on April 2.  —  ALBANY—Now it's Tedisco by 12!  —  As voting machines are re-canvassed, Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco has picked up 37 votes, evaporating Democrat Scott Murphy's lead in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress …

Gingrich warns of third party in 2012  —  (CNN) — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is warning of a third party mutiny in 2012 if Republicans don't figure out a way to shape up.  —  “If the Republicans can't break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would …

Blagojevich, brother indicted  —  A federal grand jury today has lodged sweeping corruption charges against the brother of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich as well as the former governor himself.  —  Also charged as co-defendants were Alonzo Monk, Blagojevich's former chief of staff; John Harris …

Department of awful statistics  —  Every time you find yourself saying that there must be some causal relationship between two strongly correlated variables, you should go back and look at this graph:  —  As Atlantic Business contributor Derek Lowe, from whom I stole that graph, notes,

April Fools: Ann Coulter falls for fake Obama NASCAR story … In her April 1 column, Ann Coulter fell for a fake April Fools' Day article by Car and Driver magazine that claimed that President Obama has ordered General Motors and Chrysler to cease their participation in NASCAR because it is an “unnecessary expenditure.”

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.  —  While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.  —  FOXNews.com

Eric Cantor Predicts GOP House Takeover in 2010  —  Heee-larious. … Keep praising super unpopular public figures, Eric.  Electoral gold. … Exactly.  —  What we really need right now are forward-thinking, out-of-the-box, truly untried and innovative policies, like tax cuts.

Public Knows Basic Facts About Financial Crisis  —  More Know Unemployment Rate than Dow Average  —  The latest Pew Research Center News IQ survey finds the American public reasonably well-informed about a number of basic facts pertaining to the current economic situation.

Dodd Falls Way Behind As Approval Drops To Lowest Ever, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Are Angry At AIG Bonuses And Blame Dodd  —  Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd trails former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a possible Republican challenger, 50 - 34 percent in the 2010 Senate race …

Leahy Admits Truth Commission Idea is Dead  —  We've been speculating that Sen. Pat Leahy's (D-Vt.) proposed truth commission to investigate alleged lawbreaking during the Bush administration may not be going anywhere, but now it seems Leahy is saying that himself.

WHO'S MISSING FROM THE G-20 PHOTO OP?  —  The male spouses, that's who.  Check out this photograph of the G-20 spouses.  Conspicuously absent are Néstor Kirchner, the former president of Argentina and husband of that nation's current leader, Cristina Kirchner, as well as Joachim Sauer …

The President Is ‘Keeping Score’  —  Chicago politics has moved into the White House.  —  “Don't think we're not keeping score, brother.”  That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.

Nihilism And Gay Marriage  —  Sometimes you can't say it better than the people who are going through it.  From Andrew, who I will quote at length: … That last point about paranoia is key, and it really defines, not just anti-Semitism, but bigotry itself.

Bricka Bracka Firecracker, Sis Boom Bah!  —  The century-old Russell Senate Office Building, a palace of marble and granite where lawmakers have examined everything from the Titanic to Watergate, is not ordinarily a spot for political rallies.  But these are not ordinary times.

Paterson Bids Rush Limbaugh Farewell  —  Rush Limbaugh is fed up with taxes in New York and with Gov. David A. Paterson in particular.  The radio talk-show host denounced the so-called millionaires' tax in the new state budget and then announced on the air this week that he would be packing up and leaving town.

Terry McAuliffe not laughing at Huckabee joke  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Terry McAuliffe, the jovial former chairman of the Democratic National Committee now running for governor in Virginia, is not laughing at one of Mike Huckabee's jokes.  —  During a recent appearance on behalf of Bob McDonnell …

Army searches for Bat Ayin terrorist  —  Article's topics: Terror Attack, Bat Ayin, West Bank, Gideon Ezra, IDF  —  The army has “a lead” in the search for the perpetrator of the deadly terror attack in Bat Ayin in which 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ was murdered and another boy, 7, was wounded, an IDF officer said Thursday.

Causes of the Oil Shock of 2007-08  —  I will be presenting my latest research paper, “Causes and Consequences of the Oil Shock of 2007-08”, at a conference today at the Brookings Institution.  Here I review some results from that paper about what caused oil prices to rise so spectacularly …

White House Corrects Conference Call Number After Directing Reporters to Sex Line  —  In a press release, the White House accidentally listed a phone sex number for journalists seeking an “on-the-record briefing call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones to discuss the NATO summit.”

With charges dropped against Stevens, Alaska GOP now calling on Begich to resign.  —  Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder said that he was asking a judge to drop all charges against former Alaska senator Ted Stevens because of prosecutorial misconduct by Justice Department lawyers.

Powell: I Don't Know Whether Torture ‘Would Be Considered Criminal’  —  Last night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow interviewed former Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Unlike many journalists, Maddow asked him about — and pressed him repeatedly on — his role in approving torture against detainees.

Glenn Beck: I was wrong.  We're not marching to socialism, we're marching toward fascism.  —  For almost a year, Glenn Beck has been warning with increasing panic that America is headed toward socialism.  Tonight, he issued a correction: “They” are not marching the United States toward socialism, Beck explained, but actually fascism:

Robert Groves Nominated to Head Census  —  In the survey world, this is very big news (from AP via The Page): … It is something of an understatement to describe Robert Groves as “an expert in survey methodology.”  He is one of our nations' most respected survey methodologists and arguably …